THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
March 19th, 2013
Volume VII, Edition XXXVIII
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What To Watch: Tuesday
- Tuesday is usually penalty day in NASCAR. While it's unlikely that someone could get suspended, or even fined for the shoving match after Sunday's Food City 500, probation for either Denny Hamlin or Joey Logano is a possibility.
- Bristol winner Kasey Kahne will be part of a national teleconference with the media after winning Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol. Kahne, eighth in the standings leads all drivers with an average start of 3.5 and 223 laps led through four events.
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Top News
by Tom Bowles
Some Charges Against Mayfield Dropped
A former NASCAR driver had his "rap sheet" nearly cut in half this week. Two-time Chase participant Jeremy Mayfield, arrested last year for various charges, from drug possession to burglary has seen the number of indictments he's facing drop from 19 to nine, according to court documents obtained by Bob Pockrass of the Sporting News.
The cases removed surrounded a number of break-ins Mayfield was accused of making, along with stealing property from former race teams Red Bull Racing and Fitz Motorsports totaling nearly $200,000. The primary witness in all those cases, John Kavann Franklin, died following a bizarre, aborted police chase last Fall and without him, prosecutors claim there's not enough evidence remaining to convict.
Mayfield had no public comment on the changes. He's still facing a maximum of 27 years in prison should he be convicted of one charge of methamphetamine possession, one charge of obtaining property under false pretenses, three charges of stolen goods and four larceny charges in two other counties. Indefinitely suspended by NASCAR, for failing a drug test in mid-2009 Mayfield has had additional off-track problems, from filing to bankruptcy to lawsuits stemming from former colleagues and lawyers that have dogged him for years.
Tragedy Out West Blamed On Loose Wheel
A fatal racing accident, out in California is being blamed on a steering wheel coming loose. That's what 17-year-old Chase Johnson told investigators, according to the San Francisco Chronicle as to the cause of his winged sprint car wrecking at Marysville Raceway. Johnson, a fourth-generation race car driver, was unable to maintain control of his vehicle from that point on and wound up slamming into the pit area at 90 miles an hour. His 14-year-old cousin, Marcus Johnson, and 68-year-old Dale Wondergem, Jr., a car owner for the event were killed as a result. All were there to witness the California Civil War, the season opener for this type of race car division that's fairly popular on the West coast.
Chase Johnson, a senior at nearby Petaluma High School had been racing since four years old. While memorials for the family have begun, fans of the series and fellow competitors are still in the process of wrapping their heads around what happened.
"It's terrible," Chase's grandfather, Bob, told the paper. "The odds of this happening are a trillion to one."
Our Mike Neff has reported all those who raced in the event have donated their entry fees, roughly $10,000 to the families of the victims.
Bristol Ratings Up
After a disappointing audience last week, in Las Vegas NASCAR's television ratings ticked up for Bristol. The Food City 500 scored a 4.3 in the overnights, a Nielsen number that's eight percent higher for the Cup race than the 4.0 they drew a year ago. It's also the largest audience for the event, on television in three years. While Bristol lost out to the NCAA Basketball Selection Show, on CBS as the top-rated sports broadcast of the weekend the numbers were promising considering the at-track attendance at the speedway continued to be far short of a sellout.
So far this season, NASCAR's overnight ratings are up nearly 13 percent, although that rides almost exclusively on the year-to-year increase for February's Daytona 500.
News And Notes
- The feud between Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano remains unsettled, although there's no "new news" to report. Sources are claiming the friendship between the two has been deteriorating for over a year, back to when Logano was still employed at Joe Gibbs Racing... the debut of new sponsor OXYWater will not increase the Rookie of the Year schedule for Timmy Hill. Hill, set to debut Sunday at Fontana will still only run 18 to 20 events for the team while veterans Ken Schrader and Terry Labonte will fill out the rest of the schedule.
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
March 19th, 2013
Volume VII, Edition XXXVIII
~~~~~~~~~~
What To Watch: Tuesday
- Tuesday is usually penalty day in NASCAR. While it's unlikely that someone could get suspended, or even fined for the shoving match after Sunday's Food City 500, probation for either Denny Hamlin or Joey Logano is a possibility.
- Bristol winner Kasey Kahne will be part of a national teleconference with the media after winning Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol. Kahne, eighth in the standings leads all drivers with an average start of 3.5 and 223 laps led through four events.
~~~~~~~~~~
Top News
by Tom Bowles
Some Charges Against Mayfield Dropped
A former NASCAR driver had his "rap sheet" nearly cut in half this week. Two-time Chase participant Jeremy Mayfield, arrested last year for various charges, from drug possession to burglary has seen the number of indictments he's facing drop from 19 to nine, according to court documents obtained by Bob Pockrass of the Sporting News.
The cases removed surrounded a number of break-ins Mayfield was accused of making, along with stealing property from former race teams Red Bull Racing and Fitz Motorsports totaling nearly $200,000. The primary witness in all those cases, John Kavann Franklin, died following a bizarre, aborted police chase last Fall and without him, prosecutors claim there's not enough evidence remaining to convict.
Mayfield had no public comment on the changes. He's still facing a maximum of 27 years in prison should he be convicted of one charge of methamphetamine possession, one charge of obtaining property under false pretenses, three charges of stolen goods and four larceny charges in two other counties. Indefinitely suspended by NASCAR, for failing a drug test in mid-2009 Mayfield has had additional off-track problems, from filing to bankruptcy to lawsuits stemming from former colleagues and lawyers that have dogged him for years.
Tragedy Out West Blamed On Loose Wheel
A fatal racing accident, out in California is being blamed on a steering wheel coming loose. That's what 17-year-old Chase Johnson told investigators, according to the San Francisco Chronicle as to the cause of his winged sprint car wrecking at Marysville Raceway. Johnson, a fourth-generation race car driver, was unable to maintain control of his vehicle from that point on and wound up slamming into the pit area at 90 miles an hour. His 14-year-old cousin, Marcus Johnson, and 68-year-old Dale Wondergem, Jr., a car owner for the event were killed as a result. All were there to witness the California Civil War, the season opener for this type of race car division that's fairly popular on the West coast.
Chase Johnson, a senior at nearby Petaluma High School had been racing since four years old. While memorials for the family have begun, fans of the series and fellow competitors are still in the process of wrapping their heads around what happened.
"It's terrible," Chase's grandfather, Bob, told the paper. "The odds of this happening are a trillion to one."
Our Mike Neff has reported all those who raced in the event have donated their entry fees, roughly $10,000 to the families of the victims.
Bristol Ratings Up
After a disappointing audience last week, in Las Vegas NASCAR's television ratings ticked up for Bristol. The Food City 500 scored a 4.3 in the overnights, a Nielsen number that's eight percent higher for the Cup race than the 4.0 they drew a year ago. It's also the largest audience for the event, on television in three years. While Bristol lost out to the NCAA Basketball Selection Show, on CBS as the top-rated sports broadcast of the weekend the numbers were promising considering the at-track attendance at the speedway continued to be far short of a sellout.
So far this season, NASCAR's overnight ratings are up nearly 13 percent, although that rides almost exclusively on the year-to-year increase for February's Daytona 500.
News And Notes
- The feud between Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano remains unsettled, although there's no "new news" to report. Sources are claiming the friendship between the two has been deteriorating for over a year, back to when Logano was still employed at Joe Gibbs Racing... the debut of new sponsor OXYWater will not increase the Rookie of the Year schedule for Timmy Hill. Hill, set to debut Sunday at Fontana will still only run 18 to 20 events for the team while veterans Ken Schrader and Terry Labonte will fill out the rest of the schedule.
Have news for Tom and the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at ashland10@mail.com with a promising lead or tip.
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GOT A NASCAR QUESTION OR COMMENT? WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
That's right; our Fan Q & A column is back once again in 2013. Send your question Summer Bedgood's way at summer.bedgood@frontstretch.com and if you're lucky, you'll get your name in print on Thursday when she does her weekly column. It's all part of our daily mission to give back to you – the fans that keep Frontstretch afloat!
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Today's Featured Commentary
Trying to Find Enthusiasm for Deserving Teams...and Failing
Sitting In The Stands: A Fan's View
by S.D. Grady
There he was again, rubbin' and bumpin' his way to the front. Before we knew it, Kasey Kahne led the Food City 500. There was some close racing, more than a few instances where we wondered if he might bend a fender here or there, or even get spun into the wall.
In fact, I realized near the end of the race, I've seen Kasey Kahne in this position a lot lately. Gone are the years where one of the Hendrick cars habitually lived below the top 15 in points, and therefore, out of camera shot. Kahne has joined Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the heady firmament of successful NASCAR wheelmen. Thus, he should rank up there in popularity, as part of the most valuable team in the Sprint Cup series, right? My head should be on a swivel every time he makes a good pass.
And yet, as the No. 5 drove to the top of Victory Lane in Bristol and was showered in red, white & blue confetti, I was still talking about the closing laps where Busch, Keselowski and Bowyer were making the race worth watching. Cute Kasey talked to the cameras, radio, hoisted his trophy and I... looked the other way.
Am I always such a fickle fan? Perhaps.
Farther down the finishing order, the No. 51 quietly completed its day and was sitting eighth in owner points. Part-time driver AJ Allmendinger (@AJDinger) tweeted, "Really excited for Fontana. Brand new @PhoenixRacing51 @TeamChevy chassis. Needs a sponsor on it. Top 10 in points. Great time to sponsor!!!"
Yes, a top-10 car most definitely should have some funding on its side. And then, I blinked. How did the No. 51 land so far up in the point standings? When did that happen? Where was I? With four races in the books, the top 15 is usually beginning to shake itself out for the season. What did I miss?
Since Kurt Busch left the James Finch ride last year, I admit to pretty much ignoring it. The 'Dinger manages to keep it within my general radar, but he's only wheeling it every now and then. Co-driver Regan Smith could be doing somersaults and I'd be able to be distracted by a butterfly landing on a flower.
I can't blame all of my ignorance simply on a short attention span. There's also what I'm fed by the mass media, storylines which often dictate what we talk about and where we look. I don't recall FOX aiming the camera in 'Dinger's direction this year. Or even at Regan Smith. The media is not covering the ups and downs of this once again, "also ran team." Still, being an avid fan, I ought to look past the camera's eye.
I realize deep down that I - or even any fan - can't be every driver's cheerleader. It's not human. We always have a favorite or three. I may even have a dozen, if I stopped to count. I tend to smile when I hear a new story about them, savor their moments of glory and glare at the one who is responsible for ending my driver's day early.
But I can't help feeling I should pay a little more attention to the ones that just don't interest me, for whatever reason. With Kasey Kahne, after his first few years with Evernham and me perpetually waiting for the "next Jeff Gordon" to appear, I simply gave up. The girly squeal factor didn't do anything for me... I actually wanted to see results. Kasey, apart from a good year or two simply lived at that mediocre level for so long, my patience petered out.
With the No. 51, it's a similar story; Finch appeared to be an owner who wanted to be in the big show without the budget or the driver or much of anything else. Once the first layer of paint wore off, I dismissed the team as an out of contention competitor. The car would appear near the lead at the plate tracks, only to vanish again in the speedy dry of the cookie cutters. It was just not a storyline worth pursuing and I returned to following the others who have earned my constant adoration.
Now, I am out of kilter. Kahne has been looking an awful lot like a championship-caliber driver, with a team to back him up, and the varied combination of Smith and Allmendinger has garnered some serious results for the previously ignored No. 51. A pleasant surprise, indeed. Our sport can always use an underdog doing better than it has any right to and it doesn't hurt to have a new challenger in that top spot, ready and able to take out the reigning champ. It's good! It's actually great.
However, it's going to take a little more time, and most likely some kind of controversy to get me back in the stands for these two worthy competitors. What can I say? I just can't love them all.
Kyle Larson Stat
Series: Nationwide
Track: Bristol
Car: No. 32 Cottonelle Chevrolet
Qualified: 12th
Finished: 2nd
Points Standings: 9th
Want to follow Kyle Larson yourself?
Twitter: @KyleLarsonRacin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KyleLarsonRacing
Website (under construction): http://kylelarsonracing.com/
Looking for a little history? Try... http://kylelarsonracing.net/
S.D. Grady is a Senior Editor for Frontstretch. She can be reached via e-mail at sonya.grady@frontstretch.com. Follow him on Twitter at @laregna.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Numbers Game: Food City 500
by Tom Bowles
0
Laps led by Tony Stewart this season after crashing nine laps into Sunday's Bristol event. Stewart, 24th in the standings has yet to post a top-5 performance in 2013.
5
Laps led by Danica Patrick this season, five more than her boss. Patrick, though has also not run up front since her top-10 performance at Daytona.
1
The number of times both Kurt and Kyle Busch have finished in the top 5, in a Cup event at Bristol - in the same race. Kyle was second and Kurt was fourth on Sunday.
10
The number of victories, combined the Busch brothers have at Bristol in the Cup Series.
6
Number of top-10 finishes, by Brian Vickers in his last nine Cup starts, from the beginning of 2012 after Sunday's eighth-place finish at Bristol.
6
Number of top-10 finishes combined, by Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya since the start of the 2012 season (72 starts).
1
DNF through engine failure for Ford and Chevy drivers this season in Sprint Cup.
7
DNFs through engine failure for Toyota drivers this season in Sprint Cup, accounting for 88 percent of all engine failures on the circuit. (Mike Bliss, who also drives a Toyota was listed with motor problems at Bristol but his team was planning to start-and-park the event - so that was not counted in the totals. Otherwise, the numbers would be even higher.)
13.3
Percentage of victories by Kasey Kahne, in his career that have come at tracks a mile or less in length. Kahne last won at a short track, prior to Sunday at Richmond International Raceway in 2005.
60
Percentage of victories by Kasey Kahne that have come on the "cookie cutters," ovals between 1.5 to 2 miles in length. Already, during a career in its 10th season Kahne has won at Charlotte four times.
$27,500
The difference in purse money between start-and-parker Mike Bliss, who finished last and 38th-place finisher Travis Kvapil, who blew his engine.
231
The number of additional laps Bliss would have had to run in order to earn that 38th position.
$171,760
The purse money won by Kasey Kahne for this year's Food City 500.
$186,770
The purse money won by Brad Keselowski for last year's Food City 500 -- that marks a $15,010 decrease from year-to-year. Purse money is added up through several factors, including bonuses pitched in by individual sponsors but money raised by attendance also contributes the lion's share of that amount.
100%
Increase in the number of cautions from Bristol, Spring 2012 to Spring 2013. The number of yellow flags, with the racing groove narrowed jumped from five to ten.
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Shattering NASCAR's Open-Wheel Curse... With A Second Chance
by Brett Poirier
Who's Hot / Who's Not In NASCAR: Bristol-Fontana Edition
by Brad Morgan
Going By The Numbers: Keeping A Sizzling NASCAR Start Throughout 2013
by Kevin Rutherford
Five Points to Ponder: NASCAR Rivalries Unleashed And A Champion Returns
by Danny Peters
Couch Potato Tuesday: How To Cover A NASCAR Wreck... Or Not
by Phil Allaway
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Jeremy Mayfield won the 2000 NAPA Auto Parts 500 at California Speedway. However, the win actually hurt Mayfield significantly in the points standings. Why?
Check back Wednesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Monday's Answer:
Q: Auto Club Speedway is best known for the NASCAR, CART and IndyCar races held there since the facility opened in 1997. However, another series made a one-off appearance on the track's infield road course in 2004. What was it?
A: That series was the All-Japan GT Championship, or JGTC, now known simply as SuperGT. The event at California Speedway was a non-points All-Star race (the JGTC All-Star 200) held on December 18th, and a second event on December 19th called the JGTC All-Star Sprints.
A smaller than normal field of 22 cars (10 GT500 and 12 GT300 cars) raced for 87 laps around the motorcycle version of the road course on the 18th. The No. 3 Hasemi Motorsports Nissan Z, driven by Erik Comas and Toshihiro Kaneishi came out victorious, while the No. 16 M-Tec Honda NSX driven by Tetsuya Yamano, Hiroyuki Yagi and Haruki Kurosawa won the GT300 class.
On the 19th, a shorter race of 25 laps on the 1.45-mile, interior test course was won by the Nakajima Racing No. 32 of Tsugio Matsuda and Andre Lotterer. The No. 43 ASL Garaiya driven by Morio Nitta and Shinichi Takagi won the GT300 class.
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
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Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Tom Bowles
-- Tweet 'N' Greet by Kevin Rutherford
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
~~~~~~~~~~
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Did You Notice?... by Tom Bowles
Did You Notice?... what a difference an audition makes? Tom takes a look at how having to prove yourself has become a running theme to the start of 2013, the difficulty of coming back from a slow start and so much more in his list of small but important weekly NASCAR observations.
Side by Side: Give Them A Break Or Not? by the Frontstretch Staff
An old standby column returns, our weekly staff debate on a major NASCAR topic facing the sport. This week's edition takes a look at on-track conduct. Do drivers need to race the regulars who are competing for a title differently than they might race those in their own declared series?
Sprint Cup Top 15 Power Rankings compiled by Michael Mehedin
It's baaack! Your favorite poll returns as we rank the drivers after Sunday's Food City 500. See who some of your favorite writers, from both the Frontstretch and across the web have pegged as the #1 wheelman with the most momentum as of now.
Beyond The Cockpit: IRL 2013 Preview With Mark Sibia interviewed by Toni Montgomery
The Izod IndyCar Series' Vice President of Partner Strategy talks to our own Toni Montgomery about the state of the series leading up to this weekend's Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Frontstretch Top Ten by the Frontstretch Staff
This Week's Topic: Top Ten Songs That Drivers SHOULD Have Chosen for Bristol Driver Intros. The answers will tickle your funny bone, guaranteed.
Open-Wheel Wednesday by P. Huston Ladner
We're back with a look inside the Izod IndyCar Series as the teams come ever closer to their season opener in St. Petersburg.
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